Last week we began this process, and I encouraged you to seek the Lord and ask Him to prepare your heart. It’s important. Why, because when we say yes, to the pursuit of the Mind of Christ, really say yes, the pressing will begin.

Have you ever seen those hydraulic presses in action? There are channels out there on the interwebs dedicated to hydraulic presses. People put various things in them to slowly crush them and see how they respond to the pressing. My grandkids are fascinated by big and powerful machinery like this. We’ve seen balloons that endure the pressing motion for several seconds and then pop, squeaky toys that scream and squeal as the press slowly comes down until it is completely flat and we think there’s nothing left. However, when the press lifts, it screams again as it reinflates. It’s interesting to see how different things respond to the slow and deliberate pressing of such powerful machinery.

My personal favorite is the candy, specifically Skittles. When the press first comes down, the candy sinks into the chamber. It seems pointless really as the artificial exterior crumbles and suddenly, there’s a puff of powder that comes up and out of the chamber. Then as the crushing motion continues, the individual candies disappear, and that which remains shoot up and out like spaghetti streams in all different directions.

It is fun for kids to watch it, but honestly, that is what the pursuit of the mind of Christ looks like to me. There are times I feel that I am being crushed under the weight of it all and I’ve watched others experience this as well. For me, if I was not serious about change, I would pop like a balloon. If I was not in His Word daily, and not a person of prayer, I would be like that squeaky toy, I would scream as the crushing motion occurs and scream again as it lifts. I may reinflate, but I would be unchanged. Unfortunately, I’ve seen people in this position who are taken off course because they know they are missing something, they even welcome or embrace the pressing, but because of their lack of understanding of the Word, they search outside the path God has prepared for them and settle into compromised systems, even diverting into religions and customs that are close to truth, but they are not pure. In the end, they reinflate unchanged.

For those who are serious, they will be like the candies, and as the press begins to descend, our exterior full of artificial colors will shatter and be blown away like dust in the wind. This dust is the artificial image we often feel is necessary to present to the world, our family, our Church body, even the Lord Himself. What remains will be driven further into the chamber of the hydraulic press. This is beyond external pressure, this is an internal, unrelenting pressure meant to meld our independent mind with the Mind of Christ. The goal is to bring forth that beautiful mind of Christ, those spaghetti strings if I may, full of the fruit of the Spirit, the wisdom of God, the knowledge of His will and His ways, and the discernment to see through what is in front of us straight to the heart of the issues.

Are you ready for the pressing the pursuit brings?

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 KJV

I want to look at 1 Corinthians 2:16 first:

As we touched on last time, the Greek for “mind” is “nous.” This is the God-given capacity of each person to think (reason); it is the mental capacity to exercise reflective thinking. For the believer, (noús) is the organ of receiving God's thoughts through faith. It enables us to embrace both the rational intelligence and the spiritual faculty by which God’s truth is apprehended and then acted upon by the believer.

Let’s go back up to verse 9-10 remembering, we are looking to receive God’s thoughts through faith:

The Greek verb for “have entered” is anabaino and it means “to arise” or “to ascend.” This describes a movement upward, to walk higher, accompanying higher revelation, communion or mission. This access is only gained through Christ, however, once access is gained, the pursuit toward His divine presence begins!

The Greek verb for “hath prepared” is hetoimazo. It means to make ready. Jesus spoke this in John 14:2-3 when He told His disciples He was going to prepare a place for them. This marks deliberate provision so that a person, a place or an event is fit for its appointed purpose. Sometimes people prepare for God; at other times God prepares for people. Together, the uses unfold the progress of redemptive history from promise to consummation. In 1 Corinthians 2:9 this promises realities God has prepared for those that love Him.

We often consider these promises eternal, which they are, however, what if some of those promises can be realized today? What if we can begin experiencing His kingdom revelations now? What if your purpose is to walk with Him like few on the earth have? To know Him as Peter, John, Paul…

The Greek verb for “love” agapao –to prefer, to love; for the believer, is preferring to "live through Christ" i.e. embracing God's will, choosing His choices, and obeying them through His power. This requires action, it’s a verb, meaning, actively doing what the Lord prefers by His power and direction.

Finally, the Greek verb for “searches” is ereunaó and means “thorough inquiry”. Ereunao points to careful, penetrating inquiry—never a casual glance. It pictures someone moving from surface to depth, separating truth from appearance until the matter under review is fully laid bare. In Scripture the activity is applied both to human seekers (probing God’s Word or historical facts) and to God Himself (probing the recesses of the human heart).

Every Greek word we discussed involves action. Action on God’s part, and action on our part. God probes the recesses of our hearts, and if we are actively pursuing Him, He will open up the heavens to reveal to us His Kingdom. If we pursue Him through prayer and the Word, if we choose His choices, if we obey them through His power, actively do what the Lord prefers by His power and direction, we can then begin to ascend, and walk in greater communion and revelation with the Lord which then enables us to tap into what He has prepared for us, now.

Clear back in the 90s, my husband and I would go scuba diving. He was a diver when I met him but it was such a dream of mine, he signed me up for classes. I went through all the classes, the pool practice and then headed to the ocean for my certification dive. We all had dive partners who were beginners who we trained with, mine was a teenager.

I’ll never forget my first experience under the surface of the ocean. It was incredible. I walked into the ocean fighting waves with 30-40 pounds of equipment on my back. I had the vest, the air tank, and the weights around my waist, all if this is to get you under the surface of the water and keep you alive while you are there. As I entered the ocean, I had to fight against the waves as they slammed against me. They seemed to become more aggressive with each passing step, almost as if it was trying to keep me from entering its domain. I had to be intentional with every step, one wrong move and I would be thrown off balance and hit the sand like my dive partner.

When I finally made far enough from shore to swim, I put my snorkel in and swam away from the intense waves of the shore. It was then that I could get a glimpse of what I would experience under the ocean’s surface. The excitement kindled my strength, and it was not much further before we were able to begin our dive. We swam down, five feet, ten, the ocean seemed to try and push me back up, I continued to fight to go under the ocean’s surface, releasing air from my vest, even my lungs, all in an effort to go deeper in the ocean. Once I reached 25-30 feet, there was enough pressure above me to keep me down, but a deep breath could increase my buoyancy enough to start me toward the surface again. It was a balancing act at first, until we could go deeper, 40, 50, 60 feet and the deeper we went, the more amazed I was at what I saw before me. I remember going through the initial tests while we were on the bottom of the ocean floor, and my dive partner panicked and shot to the surface. The instructor, and two other experienced divers went with him, and I was left alone at the bottom of the ocean floor.

I cannot adequately express the emotions I experienced. The isolation did not trouble me, I found serenity in the solace. I looked around, and all I could do was weep. God created the heavens, the earth, and the oceans 6000+ years ago. Still, He knew man would not be able to experience the beauty of His creation under the surface of the sea for nearly six thousand years and here it was, waiting for technology to catch up enough to enable us to survive and view the wonders of His creation in person, and here I was, experiencing another layer of God’s beauty.

This was a dream of mine since I was a child and learned this was possible, it is long and arduous process, but it was well worth the effort once I finally made it to the bottom of the ocean floor. The ocean life, the underwater plant life, the rays of the sun shining through the depths of the ocean, it is a wonder to behold. I could not believe He created this for me, I felt closer to Him than ever before, because I saw the wonder of His creation, designed “with me” in mind. In this moment of isolation, it felt even more personal, intimate.

The fight to get here was intense, but with each passing moment, I grew closer and closer to my destination.

That is how I see our pursuit of the Mind of Christ. When we are pursuing Him, it is challenging, more so than anything you will experience in our lifetime. It takes continuous action, adjustment and sacrifice on our part, remember all the verbs we studied? He will respond, but we must consistently fight toward the goal, or the depth of what He has for us will not be experienced this side of heaven. The fight will be intense; we will have to dedicate time and effort beyond what we expect to finally make it to even the first level. Then, the resistance will increase, everything in our world will push us back to shore, back to the surface, away from our dream, our destination, our passion. If we commit to the journey, even if we are left alone, when we begin to experience Him in the way that He created us to experience Him, every moment, every struggle, and every sacrifice will reap the fruit of knowing Him personally, intimately, and leave you hungry for more of Him than ever before.

I pray you see the value of pressing in and pressing on in the pursuit of the mind of Christ.

To be continued next week

Blessings & love,

Ricci Johnson-Wilson